Econopolis has a mission: that of inviting the most important economic thinkers and opinion makers to our country or else to visit them abroad. We want to bring the world’s leading economists and our clients/relations – our target public – together.
EVENTS
Paul Krugman
In October 2009 Geert Noels was invited by the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) to enter into a debate with Paul Krugman at Louvain-la-Neuve.
Jeremy Rifkin
In May 2010 Econopolis invited American sustainability economist Jeremy Rifkin (aka the “Pope of Sustainable Economy”) to Brussels for an edifying three-day event , including top encounters with
- European Commission President José Manuel Barroso
- Flemish Minister President Kris Peeters
- European President Herman Van Rompuy
followed by a well attended top seminar at the Brussels Square.
Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild
In May 2010 Geert Noels was keynote speaker at the annual world conference of the Banque Privée Edmond de Rotschild in Lisbon. He talked about the sustainability revolution and how it is changing/will change our world, economy and society.
Belgian Industry Report
Together with Unizo and VKW, Econopolis presented the much talked-about ‘Belgian Industry Report’ in September 2010. It outlined the worrying state of affairs of our manufacturing sectors, how this decline can be explained and – most of all – what we should do to stop the creative activities that are of vital importance to our economy from fleeing the country.
Nassim Nicolas Taleb
The visit of success author, economist and influential thinker Nassim Nicolas Taleb was the highlight of Econopolis’ events calendar of 2010. The Lebanese-American author of Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan was guest of honour at two very well attended Econopolis seminars in Brussels and Paris in October 2010.
Mark Faber
This Swiss economist and financial guru was invited to Trends Outlook, exceptionally co-organised in December 2010 by Roularta and Econopolis. The author of the monthly Gloomboomdoom report did not disappoint at this seminar that was primarily targeted at people interested in investing and financial markets.
TRAVELS
Econopolis intends to annually take a select group of captains of industry to the world’s economic hotspots. The previous expertise of Econopolis’ founders (including unique, highly successful business trips to New York (2006) and Shanghai (2008)) definitely comes in handy here.
In December 2010 a number of opinion & decision makers were flown to London for a series of exclusive encounters with
- Pierre Lagrange of GLG Partners LP
- American economist Nouriel Roubini
- Olympic champion Lord Coe
and a number of internal seminars with the Econopolis team as well as an exclusive visit to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium.
BOOKS
In December 2009, Economedia published the first book in its Economedia Gold series about the economy and financial markets. The book is entitled ‘Maandag geen Economie meer?’ (‘No more economy on Monday?’) and was written by Johan Van Overtveldt, former VKW manager and current chief editor of Knack magazine.
In June 2011, Econopolis, in association with LannooCampus, published the book ‘Anders bekeken’ (‘From a different point of view’). This book contained a collection of some of the best editorials and newspaper columns written over the past years by professor-emeritus Herman Daems.
In the fall of 2011, Econopolis, again in association with LannooCampus, will publish the manuscript ‘Het Zwarte Goud wordt Groen’ (‘The Black Gold turns Green’), the magnum opus of our own team member Johan Braem, covering energy, resources and the future of our energy provision.